The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art has hired a new curator: Jane Burke.
After a national search, the museum selected Burke to oversee its expanding exhibition programs. She started in the new role on Nov. 14.
“I am honored to be joining BMoCA’s team in this capacity to help lead the community-minded mission of the institution into its next ambitious, groundbreaking phase,” says Burke. “I look forward to tapping into the existing network of BMoCA and strengthening its reach locally, nationally, and internationally. BMoCA presents the ideal opportunity to steward intimate and authentic connections between artists and audiences and concurrently propel voices to be heard in the broader, global conversation.”
Burke comes to the museum from the Denver Art Museum, where she served as the curatorial fellow in the textile art and fashion department.
She spent eight years at DAM, where she co-organized many multi-media exhibitions and co-authored catalogs in partnership with fashion historian and curator Florence Müller. Some of the exhibitions she helped orchestrate include “Shock Wave: Japanese Fashion Design 1980s-90s,” “Drawn to Glamour: Fashion Illustrations by Jim Howard,” “Dior: From Paris to the World,” and “Carla Fernández Casa de Moda: A Mexican Fashion Manifesto.”
Prior to her work at DAM, Burke started her museum career at the Honolulu Museum of Art, as well as the Contemporary Museum and the East West Center Gallery. She has also guest-curated contemporary art exhibitions for Artworks Center for Contemporary Art, the RULE Gallery and the University of Denver Museum of Anthropology.
Burke earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art at the University of Colorado Boulder and a master’s degree in Asian art history and Mandarin from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Denver.
At BMoCA, she’ll help coordinate the museum’s 20-plus annual exhibitions at eight locations throughout the Denver metro area. The museum is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and serves an estimated 140,000 people each year. Burke replaces BMoCA’s former curator, Pamela Meadows, who is now director and curator of the Lamont Gallery at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire.
“I am thrilled to welcome Burke to the BMoCA team,” says David Dadone, BMoCA’s executive director and chief curator. “Her extensive experience in both contemporary and encyclopedic museums will be an asset to BMoCA during this important time of growth for our institution. Burke brings expertise that will support and extend BMoCA’s commitment to amplifying the voices of contemporary artists in accessible exhibitions that foster dialogue about current issues. Her community-responsive curatorial approach will advance BMoCA’s mission to inspire creativity and foster community through contemporary art.”
